Murderer on prison furlough escapes into Syria

2 men arrested for abetting Muhammed Yassin's escape across border; was serving 20-year sentence for stabbing man to death.

Syria-Israel border 370.
(photo credit:Nir Elias/Reuters)

A convicted murderer slipped across the northern border into strife-torn Syria
last night while on a prison furlough, police reported Tuesday
morning.

Muhammed Yassin, 23, was serving a 20-year-sentence at Hermon
Prison in the north for the 2006 murder of Duhadi Arsawan, whom he stabbed to
death during an argument at a gas station near the village of Tamra.

On
Monday Yassin left prison on his third furlough, meant to be 12 hours spent with
his family. Some hours later relatives arrived at the prison and told
authorities they did not know where Yassin was and that they feared he might try
to escape.

Not long after that, IDF troops noticed a group of men on the
border and sent soldiers to cordon off the area. They also called the police
border security unit, which sent a team to the area.

At around 10 p.m.
police announced that, along with IDF troops, they had arrested two men on the
Syrian border in the northern Golan Heights whom they believed were drug
smugglers.

Shortly afterward, according to police, the two suspects, aged
19 and 21, told them they had helped two men – one a convicted murderer – flee
across the border. One of the suspects turned out to be Yassin’s brother,
Hattib.

On Tuesday morning the suspects were brought before the Nazareth
Magistrate’s Court, where their remand was extended by five days.